


Between the Pages

by FrozenSnares



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Books, Drinking, F/M, Libraries, Music, Parties, Platonic Bedsharing, Songs, Swearing, University, sleeping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28325019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrozenSnares/pseuds/FrozenSnares
Summary: Shireen hid herself away whenever she could, using turtlenecks to cover her skin and stealing away to dark corners where no one would notice her. Unfortunately, even that doesn't work when she catches Rickon's eyes. Much as she doesn't want to admit it, he also caught hers.Written forRickeen Shipweek 2020as a gift to pingou, for reaching out and prompting this fic. Thanks for getting me to write again!
Relationships: Shireen Baratheon/Rickon Stark
Comments: 46
Kudos: 64





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pingou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pingou/gifts).



After two months, Shireen realized what was happening. She wanted to think that she’d be quicker at noticing something like this, but she saw a lot of books every day. At the circulation desk, she worked on autopilot: scanning IDs, books, and reading off any of the notices for the other students. She loved her job because it gave her minimal contact with other students and left her plenty of time to read. This was the isolation that she thrived in. She went through books quickly, reading multiple a week when the required readings for her classes weren’t too much. When it came down to it, she blamed her reading speed most of all.

It started with _1984_.

Shireen spent the summer reading classics again. Generally, she tried not to reread books. Though, when the mood struck for nostalgia, Shireen knew better than to work against it. She would go through the books she knew she loved and enjoyed, reading whenever she could. A lot of the time was at the circulation counter. The front corner of the library hid her from most people and she always had her choice of the stations. There, she hid away and read, only stopping occasionally to do the actual work for her job.

She read _Pride and Prejudice, Fahrenheit 451_ , and _Slaughterhouse 5_ when someone checked out _1984_. At the time, Shireen didn’t think much of it. After all, it was a very popular book. Shireen just turned back to _Animal Farm_ and went on with her day.

After _Little Women_ , she read _The Night Circus_ and _1984_ came back. She scanned it in as usual and placed it off to the side to be shelved. Shireen braced herself over the counter and settled back into her book.

\--

“Sometimes, I think I should have stationed you somewhere else.”

Shireen turned to her father with a smile. “You let me choose.”

Stannis scowled. “Fiction, of all things.”

“You like fiction,” Shireen countered. Her father was a cataloguer, and he kept that mindset in all aspects of his life. Shireen held to a lot of the same ideas, but she knew that her father held certain expectations for her. The STEM major mollified him some. Shireen couldn’t get into reading nonfiction or journals for fun. She did it enough for her classes.

“I still think you’d do well in reference,” Stannis said. He stacked the plates on the table and placed the utensils on top.

Shireen made a face. “I’d be amazing in reference,” she said, “but I wouldn’t enjoy it.”

Stannis didn’t push the point forward, instead asking about her studies for classes. Shireen calmly answered his questions while she cleaned up. She had dinner with her father once a week since she moved out into her own apartment. Though he had hired her, he made her to put in an application and cover letter. She was the most qualified due to her relation to him, but she also genuinely loved reading.

Her father’s comment put her in another mood, though. She’d already been switching to another genre, so after she finished _The Night Circus_ , she went to _The Princess Bride_. The next day, someone checked out _The Night Circus_ along with a comic book and an APA reference book. The selection piqued her interest, but university students had a strange taste in books.

The pattern continued, though Shireen didn’t realize it at the time. When she was reading _The Raven Boys_ , _The Night Circus_ was returned. Then, she started _Stardust_ and _The Raven Boys_ was checked out. When it came back, she was reading _Gideon the Ninth_. A few days later, it was checked out.

It wasn’t every book she read, which lent to her not noticing sooner. She read _Nameless Queen_ , _Elantris_ , and _Six of Crows_. Only the last was checked out after. Then again, she wasn’t the only person working circulation. She just might not have noticed. Also, the books going out tended to be on the more popular side. There was nothing to notice.

The science fiction binge aligned with midterms. Most people buckled down and studied more for midterms. Shireen sought escape. To get away from the equations and proofs floating in her brain, she went straight for the science fiction. She read _I, Robot_ , _The Martian_ , and _Dune_. The last two were both returned sometime later, though Shireen didn’t check them out. She did shelve them a week later.

By the time, she thought it was too much of a coincidence to keep ignoring. For the past two months, a selection of the books she read had been checked out of the library shortly after she finished reading them. They were popular books, sure, but she suspected there was something more to it. Shireen went through _Jurassic Park_ in a few days. She put it back in the stacks and it was brought to her later that day. Shireen frowned down at the book.

“Is it not a good book?”

Shireen blinked up. A tall undergrad with reddish brown hair had his brow furrowed. Shireen shook her head. “I enjoyed it despite the science having quite a few holes.”

The boy laughed. “Well, I like dinosaurs, so I think I’ll be good.”

Shireen checked it out to him, along with a few comics. She gave him a brief smile and slid the books at him.

“Cheers.” He smiled at her.

Shireen saw the slight dip of his eyes before he left. She grabbed the collar of her turtleneck and pulled it up as high as it went on her neck. She combed her fingers through her hair and brought it forward as much as possible. She wasn’t often reminded about the scars, but most students didn’t make small talk when they checked out what they needed. Shireen scowled. Her mind spent a lot of time on books and her schoolwork. She liked things that way. Distractions weren’t welcome, and coincidences were more common than she recognized. She knew that. She took statistics. Still, she had noted the boy’s name when he checked out the book.

\--

“ _Every_ book?” Myrcella sounded impressed. “That’s ridiculous. You read a ton.”

Shireen rolled her eyes. “Not all of them,” she corrected, “but it’s been a lot.”

Myrcella furrowed her brows. “And you’re sure it’s one person doing this? It’s not just that they’re popular and a lot of students want to read them?”

“Yup.”

They walked quietly through the racks of clothes. Myrcella flipped through them quickly and occasionally pulled out an article of clothing. Generally, she made a face and put it back. A few times, she’d hold up a dress to herself or in front of Shireen. Myrcella was responsible for most of Shireen’s wardrobe, only because Shireen didn’t particularly enjoy shopping. Shireen also had a preference for clothes that covered her scars and Myrcella took that into consideration.

Myrcella held up a green dress in front of Shireen for a long time. She twisted her mouth around before putting it back on the rack. “That would look fantastic on you, just FYI.”

Shireen chuckled. “No, thank you.”

“What about this?” Mycella pulled out an emerald green skirt. “You can pair it with one of your shirts, leggings, and boots. It’ll look really cute.”

“No, thanks.” Shireen flipped through a rack absently. “I don’t need to try to look cute.”

Myrcella’s jaw dropped delicately. “What about the party? You said you were going.”

“I haven’t even been invited.”

“Yes, you have,” insisted Myrcella. “ _I_ invited you. That counts.”

Shireen frowned. “Won’t his girlfriend be there?”

Myrcella cocked her head to the side. “Yeah, and? You guys get along just fine.”

Shireen feigned interest in the clothes. The truth was that she didn’t mind being at a party with Gendry and his girlfriend. But, if her memory was correct, Arya was related to the boy from the library. At least, they had the same last name, and it wasn’t common in the database of students. Only two Starks were at the university. She didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable just by showing up. She certainly didn’t want him to think she was following him around. Or slip up and mention that she looked up the books he checked out.

She ended up buying the skirt.

\--

Leaning onto the counter, Shireen slowly read through the ending of _Ready Player One_. She flipped through the pages slowly, letting herself get lost in the narrative of the story. She paused at some point and took out her phone to look up an AC/DC song. While she was listening to it, the boy returned with a couple comics in his hands.

“No book today?” he asked.

Shireen glanced up at him, but she focused her attention on the exchange. “I was actually just looking up a song from it,” she said. “I wanted to get into the scene more.”

He nodded. “What song is it?”

“Um,” Shireen fumbled away from scanning the comics to tap the screen of her phone. “ _Dirty Deeds_.”

“AC/DC,” the boy confirmed. “Must be a good book.”

Shireen nodded and went back to the exchange. She felt heat rising to her face. If he knew the band, then he likely knew the rest of the song, or at least the title. Shireen just couldn’t get herself to say _‘done dirt cheap’_ to finish it. The meaning of the song stood out abruptly at her. Shireen leaned forward to let her hair fall in front of her face.

“Is it?” he asked.

“What?” Shireen had to remind herself that she didn’t know his name. Or at least, that she wasn’t supposed to. They’d never introduced themselves to each other.

“Is it a good book?”

“Oh,” Shireen glanced over to the bright red and yellow cover. “Yeah, I really like it.”

He glanced over to the book. “Is reading part of your job?”

Shireen shook her head. She slid the comics across the counter. “Just one of the perks.” She sat back in her seat. “Do remember that we need all library materials back before break.”

“You bet.” He grinned at her. “That means I get to see you one more time before then.”

Shireen blinked up at him. She didn’t have a response to that.

His smile softened. “I’ll see you then.”

“Bye.” Shireen watched him go. She tried to get him out of her head as she went back to reading.

\--

She shouldn’t have been surprised the next week when he came up to the counter. Her hours were greater than ever before due to everyone else leaving early for break. Because her dad worked on campus, she didn’t have anywhere else to go. She might as well be working. Still, there was no reason that he’d show up in person.

“We have a book drop,” Shireen told him. She scanned in the books anyway. If she didn’t do it now, she’d just have to do it later. “It’s usually better for getting books back.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, but I wanted to check if I was missing anything.”

“Oh.” Shireen scanned all the comics in and grabbed his ID. “Let’s see… Rickon…” Shireen’s heart sped up. She’d known his name, but now she had permission to use it. It wouldn’t be weird now. “It looks like you’ve got everything in.”

“Except for my finals,” he said. “How’ve your exams been?”

Shireen tucked her hands against her on the counter. “I’m just about done,” she said. “One more exam tomorrow morning.”

Rickon nodded. “And after that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you have any plans for break?”

“More reading, probably.” Shireen smiled.

Rickon laughed. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, library girl.”

“Shireen.”

His eyes widened. “Are you telling me that you aren’t actually named ‘Library Girl’?” 

Shireen shook her head.

Rickon leaned on the counter. “Well, unless you’re graduating early, I guess I’ll see you after break.”

“Only if you keep getting more books.”

“I think the perks are worth it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to go in a completely different direction. I'll get to the prompt eventually.  
> In the meanwhile, if anyone needs a book to read, everything mentioned in this chapter is fantastic and I'd highly recommend all of them.


	2. Chapter 2

As far as Rickon was concerned, the only good thing to come out of his general education English requirement was that he got to meet Shireen. It took him nearly the entire quarter to gather up the courage to actually talk to her, but he managed it twice. While he wanted to count that as a win, he hoped to get her number, or at least to give her his. Rickon grabbed a scrap of paper in his pocket. He crumpled it up and tossed it into the nearest garbage can. Blowing out a long sigh, Rickon pulled his scarf around his neck and bowed his head to the oncoming wind.

He took the stairs up to his dorm. The small room was cramped with three beds and three desks. The only good thing about the break was that his roommates both went home already. He’d gotten a full week without them, and he kept pushing back his own ride back home. Rickon tossed his bag up onto his bunk and stripped off his heavy jacket. He climbed onto his bed and flopped down with a smile.

Classes had been much harder than he expected. All of university seemed set out to crush him. Rickon did what he could, especially since his parents had all but forced him to head straight in without a gap year. He hated it at the time. At the beginning of the year, he seriously considered intentionally failing out. It wasn’t that he thought schooling was completely pointless. He just hated how much of it was forced on him. Most of his classes were interesting enough. 

Despite his best efforts to not care at all, Rickon found a weird sense of motivation from his professors that he never got from the other adults in his life. For the first couple of weeks, it completely unsettled him. Then, he found it engaging. The only thing he struggled with was the outside reading for his English class. Rickon had never been big on reading. He didn’t have any plans for choosing books to read. After class that day, his plan was to find someone reading and choose whichever book they were reading.

He walked half the campus before going to the library and discovering that _no one at this school read_. Rickon somehow found comics at his library for his assignment. Then, he found the only person on the entire campus who read. Naturally, she worked at the library. Rickon feigned interest in a nearby shelf until he saw the title of the book. Then, he went back a few days later to check out _1984_. 

By then, she was already on another book. Rickon smiled at his luck. He hated trying to figure out what to read, especially since it was for class. He hoped that she kept reading different books so he could keep taking recommendations from her. That’s how it started, at least.

She didn’t talk much, obviously knowing the minimum number of words she needed to spend per interaction. Rickon didn’t mind. He just wanted her book recommendations so he could get through his class.

The next book ended up being a romance, of all things. Rickon pushed through his annoyance when he realized that he’d been tricked into reading it. By then, though, he was too close to the end. And he couldn’t _not_ finish. It definitely didn’t have anything to do with whether or not the characters got together. He definitely didn’t think about it for a few days after he finished reading.

He needed another distraction. The library girl delivered. She didn’t know what he was doing. There was no way she’d figured it out. She rarely looked up at him. Maybe it was just him. Rickon didn’t know. He never saw a line at the counter. The next book, though.

Rickon nearly laughed at the memory. He didn’t think that a book filled with words he had to look up every other page and a nearly unpronounceable name of a main character would strike his fancy. Despite the frankly morbid and macabre nature of the book, Rickon couldn’t help but grin every time he thought to himself, “ _We do bones, motherfucker_.” He thanked the entire publishing industry for giving him the opportunity to quote that in an essay for university. Swearing was official part of his degree. Unless he didn’t graduate.

Glancing at his phone, Rickon pulled himself out of bed and put his jacket back on. He only had four free meals left on campus before break, and he intended on using them. It was hard enough getting his parents to agree to letting him live on campus. They had, but at a cost. Literally. The cheapest possible housing situation. They would pay for nothing more.

He needed a scholarship just so he could stay out of the house. Or a job. Then, he could get his parents off his back more than just hiding in his dorm at long as he possibly could.

Rickon tried to study for his last final the next day while he ate everything available in the dining hall, but he found himself searching for books that AC/DC songs in them. Turns out that particular search was not fruitful. Nor did it help that Dirty Deeds was possibly their most well-known album, and a very popular song. Rickon’s scowl grew deeper as he went through pages off searches, none of them helpful. He might never figure it out on his own. Maybe it didn’t matter. She’d probably have another book after break that he could ask after.

So far, he’d enjoyed all of her recommendations, even though she didn’t know she was giving them. Despite his complete failure to get her number or give her his number, he still managed to get her name: Shireen. He didn’t know anyone else by that name. Still, Rickon didn’t want to just look her up on Instagram or Twitter. He didn’t want her to think he was creeping on her.

Rickon shook his head at himself. He needed to focus. He had an exam to study for. For the rest of the night, he managed to keep Shireen out of his head. He buckled down until he felt fully prepared to take on his last test, or at least, the best he thought he would do. Then, his thoughts drifted back to Shireen as he started falling asleep.

She always seemed so closed in on herself, but she looked comfortable tucked away into her small corner of the library. The few times he caught himself watching her, he found her reacting to the books she read: smiling, frowning, laughing, drawing back, dropping her mouth open. As she moved further over her book, her wavy black hair spilled over her shoulders. She’d push it back sloppily, letting it tangle behind her head, and always, always, always pushing it to the left.

Rickon didn’t think much of it until he saw her face. It wasn’t at the counter. She hadn’t been there that day when he checked out _The Martian_ and _Dune_. Instead of leaving that day, he searched through the library. He thought it likely that she wasn’t working, but he sought her out regardless. Rickon wound through all of the aisles on two floors of the library before he found her. Shireen was shelving books in a quick, efficient manner. A few times, she stretched up to reach a higher shelf. Rickon buzzed with the urge to go help her. Instead, he browsed the shelves nearby. She never turned to him or gave him the slightest hint of recognition. Her focus was singularly on the books, which let Rickon see the scars on the left side of her face.

He stood in that spot long after she pushed her cart of books away. Not because of her scars, though those intrigued him plenty, but because he only caught a sliver of her eyes and they were the brightest blue he’d ever seen in his life. That was when he decided that he’d talk to her the next time he checked out a book. He wanted to see the full force of her eyes. He also kind of wanted to see her scars up close.

The exchange didn’t go as he planned. Then again, things rarely did. He found the latest book he caught her reading in the library before putting it down to check out. She took _Jurassic Park_ slowly and frowned at the book. Every thought he had for conversation no longer seemed appropriate. Instead, worry crept up on him.

“Is it not a good book?” he asked. Honestly, he had only had a small inkling that it was a book at all. Like most people, he saw the movie a long time ago.

She blinked up at him. For a brief second, Rickon thought that maybe her eyes weren’t that blue. Maybe her hair was impossibly black. She looked pale, but Rickon couldn’t remember what colors were supposed to look like anymore. She wore a yellow turtleneck, but Rickon had a hard time reconciling that it was actually yellow.

Then, she shook her head. “I enjoyed it despite the science having quite a few holes.”

Rickon laughed. He hadn’t taken her for a science person given that he only ever saw her reading. It was a pleasant surprise. However, the last thing he wanted was to get into discussing majors when he was still Undeclared. “Well, I like a dinosaurs,” he told her, “so I think I’ll be good.”

She smiled then. The turn of her lips didn’t quite affect the left side of her face. Then, she scanned his ID and checked out the books to them. She was still smiling when she slid the books back to him.

Rickon didn’t know how to prolong the conversation. He wanted to stand at the counter for an hour and just stare at her, ask her about books or food or television or anything he could possibly think of just so he could memorize her voice. Rickon’s heart pounded louder in his chest. He needed to escape. Rickon flashed her a quick smile. “Cheers.”

He left the library quickly then. Of all the possibilities from his English assignment, he didn’t expect a one-sided crush on the girl who worked at the library to come out of it. He didn’t think anything would come out of it. After all, he doubled down on his studies just to stop himself from failing out. If she had time to read for fun and critique science, he’d never be able to talk to her, let alone date her.

That possibilities almost made him trip over his feet. Why did he want to date her? She’d spoken one sentence to him. The best clue as to her personality was only in her reading choices, and Rickon had a small sample of that. He put the thought in the back of his head.

It picked at him every time he passed the library. Presumably, he could just go in and talk to her. Somehow, that seemed like a ridiculous idea. Reading the same books as her was much more reasonable in his head.

\--

Rickon walked out of his final with a huge weight lifted from his shoulders. He was nowhere near where he knew he could get his grades, but given his extreme aversion to the beginning of the year, he did fantastic. At least, he could tell his family that his grades wouldn’t be posted until he returned to school. They couldn’t force that information from him anymore. Rickon frowned. He really needed a job.

Before he could stop himself, Rickon went back into the library. The doors to the rooms with the books were locked. Rickon froze. He didn’t have a plan.

“No browsing today,” Shireen called behind him. “Returns only.”

Rickon spun around. She stood at the counter, rhythmically scanning in books. A knitted cardigan fell over her shoulders. Today, she had on a black turtleneck. She looked like a spy. Rickon grinned, thinking back to the heist novel he read a few weeks back. She’d fit right in.

Rickon swallowed. “I actually have a question for you.”

Shireen looked up. Her eyes were sharp under her black lashes, but they softened a little as she looked him up and down. She didn’t inquire further, but she also didn’t kick him out of the library.

Rickon walked up to the counter and leaned his forearms onto the edge. “That book you were reading yesterday,” he started slowly. “The one with the AC/DC song in it: what’s it called?”

“ _Ready Player One_ ,” she replied automatically, “by Ernest Cline.”

“It’s about video games?” Rickon tilted his head to the side.

Shireen shrugged. “They’re mentioned,” she said, “but it’s more about isolation and learning to accept help.”

Rickon nodded. “A lot of books are about that,” he said. “There’s a big emphasis on friendship in modern books. Lots of found family.”

Her eyes narrowed. She nodded slowly. “If you want to put the book on hold, you can pick it up after break,” she said, “or try a public library.”

“I might just buy it,” Rickon said. He didn’t expect this conversation to last so long. He wanted it to keep going, but he was horribly out of practice. “It sounds fun.”

She didn’t seem terribly interested. Shireen went back to scanning in books. “Anything else?”

Rickon wished that he had something clever and witty to say. He wanted to be able to hold her attention for more than a brief exchange. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind. Instead, he settled on “Enjoy your break” before heading out.

He nearly crashed into a tall older man coming into the library. Rickon mumbled out a quick apology and went back out. On his way back to his dorm, he wandered out into the surrounding city, found a bookstore, and bought a copy of _Ready Player One_. Then, he stayed up until two in the morning reading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how this fic ended up more about books than I expected, but sometimes that's how it goes.


	3. Chapter 3

The rhythm of scanning in books calmed Shireen. She enjoyed shelving plenty, but scanning had a calm rhythm that was mindless enough for her to think of other things. Right now, Shireen wanted something more distracting. Without anything more pressing, her mind wandered back to Rickon. This was the first time he’s explicitly asked after a book she read. Maybe he wasn’t the one checking out all the others. If he asked after this one, wouldn’t he have asked after the others, too?

Shireen frowned as she kept scanning in the books. Against her better judgement, she’d checked his checkout history. A good percentage of the books she’d read were on the list, alongside a bunch of comics. Shireen ground her teeth. The first book of the comic series was currently in her bag. She put it in there earlier today. Now, she almost wanted to put it back. Almost.

Her dad walked in through the heavy front doors, and Shireen let out a sigh of relief. Finally, some proper distraction.

Shireen smiled at him and went back to scanning books. “Hi, Dad.”

“That boy—”

Shireen’s heart sunk. If she couldn’t get a good and proper distraction from her dad, she was doomed. She started scanning faster, hoping for respite in the stacks.

“—he’s been coming around a lot.”

“Probably for an English class,” Shireen said. She quickly put the books in her cart in alphabetical order. “At least we know there’s one person in the world who isn’t pirating books.”

Stannis’s frown deepened. “They could be buying them.”

“In the internet era?” Shireen grimaced. “That’s rather unlikely.”

Now, his brows furrowed, too. Stannis glared down at the two carts beside her. “I’ve been putting off the full switch to an e-book distributor due to lack of reference materials,” he mumbled to himself, “and I’ve moved the entire catalogue online for ease. What more could I do?”

“Lean into the e-books,” Shireen said. “More readers, if we get them easier access to what they want.”

“This isn’t a public library.”

Shireen shrugged. “I’m off to shelve,” she said. “You got the desk?”

Stannis held open the small gate for her as she rolled the carts of books out and into the stacks.

Shireen locked the doors to the stacks behind her and dove in. She knew the rhythm of the stack well. The same books tended to be checked out each quarter. Professors were unfortunate creatures of habit, as least where books were concerned. Like all people, they rarely moved away from the things they already knew. Shireen wanted to fault them for that, but she was much the same.

Even now, when she was busy shelving books, Shireen thrived in the comfortable familiarity of it. She put everything away easily and straightened the shelves as she went. As she went and the pattern got more ingrained, her mind wandered. This time, she blamed her father.

How had he noticed Rickon? It took her two months to figure out he was the one checking out the books she’d been reading. Was she really going to believe that her father had caught on sooner? Shireen didn’t want to think long on how unobservant she’d been, but the other option seemed to be thinking about Rickon. She didn’t even have her finals to distract herself anymore.

The only good thing about being so distracted with a person was that Shireen knew just enough about Rickon to keep her brain very busy. She knew when he’d first started reading the same books as her. She even knew which books he read, or, at least, which of the book he’d checked out. Maybe he hadn’t read them. Maybe he was playing games with her. She’d never asked after any of them. It was possible that he hadn’t. She didn’t know. She might never know. That was a downward spiral she didn’t want to get lost in. There were other aspects that she could think about. She didn’t give herself permission to think about it before, but Rickon was pretty cute. Shireen scowled. She didn’t want to admit that.

He was quite attractive, though. She’d always been sitting when he came into the library, so she didn’t have a strict measure of his height. Still, she thought back to the way he leaned onto the counter in front of her. He’d settled down into his shoulders and his green eyes had an intensity she’d never seen before. His hair looked like a tangled mess worse than hers with the wild curls. She remembered the sharp line of his square jaw. Briefly, she wondered if it could be an indication of his physique.

Heat rushed to her face. Shireen abrupted steered herself away. She stopped herself in her tracks and gently hit her head against the nearest shelf. She didn’t know what the reprimand was for. She was nearly about to graduate university. She could fantasize about a cute boy she’d only spoken to for two seconds. It was more than the foundation of a lot of relationship. Maybe that wasn’t it, though. Maybe the real reason she reprimanded herself was because she’d only ever gotten two looks at him. Neither of them were very good. More importantly, they’d both been after the weather had turned, and she was ninety percent sure that he wearing a coat. Now, she had to wait until next year to get another look at him.

Shireen’s eye went wide with the shock of her own thoughts. This was not anything she had ever expected from herself. She hid herself away in every possible way, and now she was trying to get a better look at someone. This was ridiculous.

Shireen pulled out her phone and texted Myrcella: _I need a distraction._

Myrcella responded quickly: _I have many cute dresses you should consider for the party tomorrow. Pics?_

_Sure_

Shireen kept her phone open on the cart as she kept shelving books. Every few minutes, Myrcella would send Shireen a picture of a dress, usually on a hanger, and Shireen would present her opinions on it. She forced herself to think about each garment of clothing for more than a few seconds. She got herself to respond with more than her gut opinion on it. Shireen commented on the color, cut, hemline, accessories, or whether she’d have any matching shoes to go with them.

_Try some on?_

Shireen frowned down at her phone. She already knew what she was going to wear to the party if she decided to go. She had a very limited selection of clothes, and she knew what she thought she looked nice in. However, now, she had the distinct impression that she’d see Rickon at the party. Maybe it was worth dressing up for. Shireen felt a stab of annoyance for even thinking it.

Still, Shireen agreed to Myrcella’s suggestion and found herself at her cousin’s apartment later that night.

“You look good in black, but so does everyone,” Myrcella said, shifting through the packed clothing of one of her closets. “It’s a Christmas party. You should wear something festive.”

Shireen frowned. “Festive?”

“Or something with color.” Myrcella grabbed out a bright red dress. “You’re going to hate it, but would you please put it on?”

Shireen had seen Myrcella in the red dress a lot over the years. It fell off her shoulders and had a short shirt. There was a glimmer to it that Shireen never really understood. Myrcella put it on and leaned over tables to get unsuspecting men to glance down her cleavage briefly. She’d gotten them countless free drinks with the dress, and Shireen admitted that it had it’s uses. It just wasn’t a use Shireen wanted to have control over. It also left her scars exposed for everyone to see.

“Gods, you’re hot.” Myrcella lounged back on her bed. “You could walk up to anyone in that and ask for anything in it.”

“Correction: _you_ could.” Shireen grabbed at the zipper at her side. “It’s going to be cold tomorrow.”

“Okay… okay…” Myrcella went back to her closet and pulled out other dresses for Shireen to put on. She grabbed the most colorful of the selection, leaning toward the reds and whites. After a long time, Myrcella started pulling out green dresses, too.

Shireen gaped at the dress Myrcella pulled out. “That’s the same one from the store?”

“Of course, it is.” Myrcella tossed the dressed to Shireen. “I was going to give it to your for Christmas present, but you really should wear it to the party.”

Shireen eyed the thin straps.

“Black turtleneck. Leggings. Boots,” insisted Myrcella. “It’ll look great. But I’d like to see it without your usual flair on.”

The dress fit her perfectly. Shireen let her long hair fall over her shoulders, but Myrcella combed it back. Shireen didn’t want to admit that it looked good, but Myrcella’s taste had yet to fail her. It looked good, but there wasn’t a force in the world that would let her out in the world with so much of her shoulders on display. Still, she smiled. “It’s a good dress.”

“But is it enough of a distraction?” Myrcella twisted her lips. “What was that about?”

Shireen tried to shrug nonchalantly, but she felt the heat rise to her face. “I was shelving books,” she said. “It got boring.”

Myrcella sat forward. “You’re never bored shelving books.”

“Last day in the library,” Shireen added. “The load was more than usual.”

Myrcella sighed. “Don’t make me call you out on your bullshit.”

Shireen tilted her head at Myrcella. “Kinda sounds like you just did.”

Flopping back onto her bed, Myrcella sighed dramatically. “Fine,” she said to the ceiling. “I’ll just never know what I did to lose your trust.”

“Cella, it’s not that,” Shireen went over to sit beside her. “My brain was just being dumb.”

“Don’t insult my cousin’s brain!” Myrcella swatted at Shireen’s arm. “What was it? _Who_ was it?”

“Cella!”

Myrcella jumped up. “Tell me all about them,” she said. “Give me clues. I can guess.”

Shireen groaned and flopped onto the bed. “I’ve already told you.”

Myrcella’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “The boy from the library?” she asked eagerly. “He was checking out books after you. It sounds like he’s interested.”

“I won’t see him until after break, anyway.” Shireen didn’t see the point in bringing up the possibility that he might be at the party. It wasn’t anything she wanted to think about anyway.

“You didn’t get his number?” Myrcella whipped out her phone. “Tell me two things about him and I bet I can find him on Instagram.”

Shireen’s jaw dropped. “I don’t want to stalk him.”

“You won’t be; I will.”

Shireen let out a noise of exasperation. This was not how she expected the evening to go. She sat up and reached back for the zipper of the dress.

“Wait, wait, wait!”

Shireen turned around to Myrcella sharply. “What?”

“You should let the library boy take it off you.”

Shireen felt her face burning. “He has a name.”

Immediately, she knew it was the wrong thing to say. The look in Myrcella’s eyes turned particularly mischievous. “What’s his name?”

“Nope.” Shireen shook her head. She took off the dress quickly and threw it at Myrcella. By the time Myrcella stopped laughing and pulled it off her head, Shireen was already dressed. “This was a terrible idea. I should just go sulk back home.”

Myrcella shook her head. “I will not accept that,” she said. “You must go to the party first. _Then_ , you can sulk until Christmas, when you will be expected to show up for dinner.”

Shireen groaned. She couldn’t tell Myrcella why she didn’t want to go. And, if she played her cards right, she didn’t need to let Myrcella figure it out. Even if Rickon also showed up, she swore that she wouldn’t let Myrcella figure out what was happening. She might have to shove drinks into Myrcella’s hands all night.


	4. Chapter 4

Despite the fact that it was officially winter break and a Saturday, Rickon woke up early. He wouldn’t have been bothered by this at all except that he woke up early because his phone was ringing. Rickon groaned into his pillow. He slid his arms around until he found his phone and squeezed the sides to turn off the ringer. Rickon sighed into his pillow. He closed his eyes for almost a minute when his phone rang again.

If he had the energy for it, Rickon might have thrown his phone across the room. Instead, he pulled out his phone, briefly blinded himself with the screen brightness, and put his phone on silent. Then, he blissfully sunk into his pillows again.

Sleep didn’t come. Rickon didn’t want to look at his phone and see who had ruined his first day of break. To distract himself, he grabbed the book that he’d tucked in the side of his bed and finished reading. He got to the point Shireen mentioned—with the AC/DC song—and put it on in the background while he kept reading. Rickon smiled to himself and bounced his fingers along to the beat of the song as he read. The song disappeared and Rickon kept on in silence until he reached the end of the book.

Rickon put it down on his chest and stared up at the ceiling. When he wasn’t reading for class, when he didn’t have to go back and analyze what he’d just read and pull quotes from it, Rickon found that he actually enjoyed reading. He could just sit in the afterness of the book and let his memories of it flicker through his head without restriction. He could think about his favorite parts of the book instead of wonder how he’d use them in an essay.

Grabbing his phone, Rickon opened up a new message and typed, _Just finished the book. Any other recommendations?_ He scrolled through his contacts. He got down to the Ts before he remembered that he didn’t have Shireen’s number. The message had nowhere to go. His stomach grew heavy. Rickon closed out all of his open apps to ignore the embarrassment he felt building up in him. Luckily, no one was around to witness it.

He didn’t like the feeling at all. To drive it from his head, Rickon went through his missed calls. His mom had called him eleven times that morning. Rickon frowned and felt a bubble of anger rising up in him. The only thing he owed his parents was that they paid for his education. An education that he didn’t even want to pursue. And then, they had the audacity to put restrictions on where he could live while he was only doing something because they wanted him to do it. Rickon couldn’t stand it.

He’d answer the phone, but he wouldn’t do it at an hour when everyone was supposed to be sleeping. Instead, Rickon scrolled through his phone mindlessly for a long time. He wasn’t conscious of doing it, but sometime later he found himself on Shireen’s Instagram. All of the pictures were of books, art, or nature. She had no pictures of her face anywhere he could find publicly. For a while, he considered sending her a DM.

Rickon knew that he couldn’t. That would be beyond creepy. He knew better to do that. Instead, Rickon dragged himself out of bed, put his phone on vibrate and dressed for the day. He put on clothes and dug through his drawers for a box of cereal. He kept one in case he missed a meal, but he made sure to use every possible use of his meal plan. Rickon crunched on his cereal when his phone rang. He turned away from his computer to read the text from his sister.

_Gendry is going on a booze run. Want a ride?_

The party wasn’t scheduled until the evening. It was closer to noon now, but Rickon had literally nothing else to do. He might be able to convince himself to message Shireen, but he knew that that was a bad idea. Anything was better than letting himself consider that. He texted his sister back and pulled on his shoes. 

Arya texted back: _Dress nice. We’re having an ugly sweater competition so any of yours will do._

“Fucking A,” Rickon muttered to himself. He didn’t own any Christmas sweaters, but he did have a knit sweater that Sansa got him a year ago. He pulled it on over a long-sleeved shirt and considered it done. Because he was so close to home, he hadn’t bothered with any new clothes for the climate. This would do just fine. Rickon shoved his phone and wallet into his pockets and went down to the lobby of his dorm.

A few minutes later, Gendry pulled up in his pickup truck. It was a big truck that suited him, as far as Rickon was concerned. More importantly, Rickon liked Gendry. He didn’t know how Arya had been allowed to date someone who didn’t go to university. For some reason, their parents didn’t scrutinize her every action like they did his. Rickon thought that of all his siblings, he and Arya were the closest. Yet, he’d been subjected to the absolute brute force of his parents’ critiques.

Whoever said that the youngest child could do whatever they wanted was one hundred percent wrong.

Rickon followed Gendry into the shop and helped Gendry pile in cases of beer and a few handles of liquor. They also stopped to grab a few additional snacks. Rickon hauled their supply into the back of Gendry’s truck.

“It’s less than I expected.” Rickon shut the door and climbed into the front seat.

Gendry grinned and turned on his trunk. “Some etiquette for future parties: guests always bring beer,” he said. “If you hosting, buy less than you think. If you attending, bring a case or a handle.”

Rickon nodded. That was the type of advice and wisdom that he should have been learning in university. Instead, he went through the required general education classes until he was forced to declare a major. Definitely a waste of time. This kind of knowledge would help a lot more in his life. Rickon carried in cases of beer to the blessedly first-floor apartment where his sister lived with Gendry. Despite his sister’s aversion to decorating and cleaning, the apartment looked very nice and even had some decorations up, which could only mean one thing.

“Where’s Sansa?” asked Rickon. He looked around. “How long has she been here?”

“Rickon!” His sister ran out of hallway and jumped up to hug him. She’d left her hair wavy today, so the ocean of red hair fell down her back over her pristine white sweater. “Were you really not going to come home this year?”

Rickon looked up at the ceiling. “Well, I haven’t packed yet.”

Arya came up behind Sansa and leaned against the wall. “He’ll be home,” she said. “Trust me.”

Rickon rolled his eyes. He left to go help Gendry with anything, just to get away from the commentary of his sisters. For two people who were so different, they sure learned how to gossip loudly with each other over the years. It was annoying.

Luckily, as soon as guests started arriving, Gendry started cracking open bottles. Rickon took the drinks happily, glad for the distraction from literally everything else. He held his alcohol well, and he was well-aware of that. He could take shots and run through drinking games better than most of his peers. It was a skill that most people didn’t value. Rickon got caught up in chatting with Gendry and Hot Pie to the point where he didn’t notice who was calling when he answered his phone.

“How were finals?”

Rickon scowled. “Fine,” he said. Rickon steered himself out the apartment to stop eavesdropping. “Finished up yesterday and I won’t hear back for a couple weeks. I’m at Arya’s.”

“Are you coming home after?” his mom asked. “She can give you a ride home.”

“I’ll figure it out.”

“You know how important your grades are,” she pressed.

Rickon bit his tongue. This was why he needed to get out as soon as possible. There were so many people in his life that hadn’t gone to university after high school and did perfectly well with their lives. His eldest brother, for one, had knocked up his high school girlfriend the summer after he graduated. Did he get any flack about it? No, of course not. He was instead thanked for providing a grandchild to the family, and he didn’t go back to university until his kid was in preschool. Robb could do no wrong.

On the other hand, Rickon did everything wrong in the eyes of his mother. He’d stayed quiet for too long, and his mother went on.

“If you don’t find a good major, you’ll never get a decent job when you graduate,” she said. “I hope you’ve kept your personality in check. If we hear anything from your professors…”

“Classes were fine, thanks,” he said. Then, he couldn’t resist temptation. “In one of my essays, I wrote ‘motherfucker’.”

“RICKON STARK.”

“IT WAS A QUOTE.”

“IF I HEAR ONE WORD—"

Rickon pulled the phone away from his ear. He didn’t need to hear the rant. He also shouldn’t have baited his mother. The fact of the matter was that his essay was one of the better ones he’d gotten back that year. His professor even wrote that he loved the quote in his essay. He’d have to go shove it in her face later. He waited until her voice trailed off. He put his phone back to his ear and waited.

“You’re too young to do doing things like this,” she said. “It’s entirely irresponsible. This is why you don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Or boyfriend,” Rickon corrected. Then he added, “Or both. Come on. You’re insulting Bran.”

“Rickon…” she warned.

Rickon rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah…”

“Your focus should be on your academics,” she insisted. “Your studies are very important right now.”

Rickon really didn’t want to go home now. He could take a light ribbing, but his mother had flat out insulted him now. He didn’t want to deal with any of that. He hummed out bland responses until the call ended. He returned to the apartment to a cheering round of shots.

Hot Pie pressed a tiny plastic cup into his hand. “Catch up, buddy.”

“Gladly.” Rickon tossed back the shot and swallowed it down. “How many did I miss?”

A smirk rose up on Hot Pie’s mouth. “Three.”

Rickon nudged his cup forward. “We can fix that quickly.”

Hot Pie poured the drinks and took the snacks for which he was nicknamed out of the oven.

Rickon finished up all the shots and stayed straight on his feet before he realized that he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. He leaned over the counter. “Hey, can I have one of those?”

“Sure.” Hot Pie slid one on a plate for him. He plated the other ones and carried them out to the table. He returned to the kitchen, where he shuffled a bunch of other snacks that needed to be heated into the oven. “Want anything else? I can mix you something.”

“No, thanks,” Rickon said. “I can mix my own Jack and Coke.”

Hot Pie raised an eyebrow at him. “You mean, you can add a shot of Coke to your Jack.”

“Exactly.”

Hot Pie laughed. “Don’t forget to eat with it,” he said. “I got a lot of snacks coming, and all of them are great.”

Rickon grinned. Hot Pie’s food was always the best. Rickon didn’t know what odd turn of events led Arya to meeting her strange bands of friends, but he was happy to reap the benefits. Right now, he wanted that escape more than ever. Rickon kept his drink full as he moved through the party. He knew how to flip the switch and be an amiable party guest. He also knew that alcohol would get his mother’s voice out of his head. It wouldn’t, however, stop him from hearing his siblings saying the same thing.

“I don’t know where he gets the idea.” Arya was chatting to a very pretty blonde girl. In the back of his brain, Rickon distinctly realized that no one was wearing an ugly Christmas sweater. Arya’s voice drew him back. “Who wants to babysit their brother during their last year at university?”

Rickon’s mood tipped. He had several choice things he wanted to say, but now wasn’t the time.

“Lay off it, Arya,” Gendry said. “He’ll figure it out.”

“Will he?” Arya pushed her drink into Gendry’s chest. “I was supposed to be the deadbeat of the family, but I’m doing fine. Guess who’s left?”

“Arya…” Sansa warned. She looked around.

Rickon took a step back and hid in the shadows of the short hall. He felt the comfort of the people laughing and playing games behind him. His focus wouldn’t leave the conversation of his siblings in front of him.

Arya took a long pull of her drink. She shrugged. “Not my problem if he doesn’t get anything out of his life,” she said. “He can manage it on his own.”

“Yeah, fuck you,” Rickon grumbled under his breath. He chugged down the rest of his drink and went back to the other room where people were happily playing beer pong. He joined in the game, sinking every throw and wishing his opponents were better. He needed a drink.

A small part of his brain recognized that he was definitely drunk already, but what was stopping him? Much of his life, he’s worked to live up to his family’s ridiculous expectations. The effort obviously wasn’t worth it. They all expected him to fail. He might as well fail stupendously.

An hour later, the people had mixed themselves around again, and Rickon had downed a few more drinks. He stopped keeping count. He knew how many got him drunk and how many more would give him a hangover. Today, he wasn’t counting. If he had considered going home earlier, he definitely wasn’t going to do it now. None of that was worth what he’d have to put up with.

Rickon hoped to be well and truly drunk for the entirety of his break. He was well on his way to getting there when the one reason he wanted to be sober walked through the door.


	5. Chapter 5

No matter how many assurances Myrcella gave her, Shireen couldn’t stop pulling at the collar of her turtleneck. She wanted to be covered even more. She pushed her hair forward and flinched away from every introduction and lingering look at her face. She didn’t want any of that. At Myrcella’s request, she’d worn the green dress. Myrcella was in a slightly less attention-grabbing red dress, but Shireen saw how many sets of eyes followed her cousin around the room. 

The drinks didn’t help. Myrcella insisted that they’d help her relax, but Shireen knew better. One of Arya’s friends mixed her a bubbly combination of fruit juices that was very pleasant. Shireen murmured out her thanks and sought out a quiet corner to hide away in for the rest of the night. She knew it wasn’t standard party behavior, but she was deeply uncomfortable already.

A good mix of people were here, and Shireen only knew her cousins. She suspected that she knew one other guest, but she’d happily limited her other social interactions to the library where she at least knew she was safe.

“Just one game, Shireen,” Tommen said. “I’ll drink for you. It’ll be harmless.”

“I don’t think it will.”

“Less harmless than Spin The Bottle.” Myrcella slung an arm over Shireen’s shoulders. “Do you remember that train wreck?”

“Unfortunately.” Shireen frowned. The last thing she wanted to think about tonight was an absolutely horrible party from her high school years.

Myrcella made a disgusted face. “He put his tongue down my throat,” she said. “Absolutely disgusting.”

Tommen snorted. “In the outfit you were wearing—”

Myrcella shot her brother a deadly look. “I want you to actually think before you finish that sentence.”

“You… looked fantastic,” Tommen finished half-heartedly. “Anyone would have wanted to kiss you so enthusiastically. Shireen, let’s go get snacks!”

Shireen followed Tommen away from a fuming Myrcella. She looked around at the wide selection of snacks available. “You might have pissed her off into flirting with every guy here.”

“All the single men beware,” Tommen muttered. He elbowed Shireen lightly. “You doing okay here?”

“What?” Shireen snapped her focus back to her cousin. She’d been scanning the crowd for a familiar face. It was a bad habit that she needed to break immediately.

Tommen furrowed his brow. “Are you looking for someone? You already said hi to Gendry…”

Shireen shook her head. “No,” she said. “I’m fine.”

“If you need to escape, no one will mind,” Tommen said. “Myrcella will understand, and she’s perfectly capable of dragging someone under the mistletoe to prove it.”

Shireen gave him a weak smile. If only she could go about life and parties the same way her cousin did. She tried it once, but being insulted by a drunk guy stung worse than all the sober men who’d done it. Instead, Shireen put her focus elsewhere. She turned back to Tommen. “Go enjoy the party,” she said. “I’m boring company, I know.”

“You’re not boring, Shireen,” Tommen said. Despite his words, he backed away into the crowd.

Without the supervision of her cousins, Shireen hoped to scan the crowd without any interference. She slowly moved through the party, nursing her drink as she went. Several people smiled at her and invited her to games, but she needed to satisfy the one question burning in the back of her mind: _Was he here?_

Shireen wound through the guests and around the games. Something was happening in the next room over. Voices were escalating. She slowly nudged her way over. Shireen went into the short hallway slowly. A drunk boy crashed into the wall opposite her. She flinched away and put her back against the wall. Then, he stood up in front of her. He _was_ here. Shireen blinked up at him. They stared at each other for a few seconds before someone pushed past them, pushing Shireen toward the other room. Panic rose in Rickon’s eyes and he ducked away into the other room. Shireen nearly followed after him.

“Shireen!”

She turned to the call. A moment later, Arya was on her arm, pulling her into the room. Her sister was also there, lounging on the short couch. Someone had hooked up Mario Kart into the television and a round was going. Arya dragged Shireen into the room. “Come race me!”

“You sound drunk,” Shireen commented.

“That’s because she is,” called Gendry. “She’s a mess who needs to go _apologize to her brother_.”

“He didn’t even hear me!” protested Arya. “You’d say the same thing if you had my mom breathing down your neck and fucking demanding you to be her at uni. It fucking sucks!”

“Gendry’s right,” the auburn-haired man next to Gendry said. “You just gotta ignore her.”

Sansa gaped at him. “Fuck you, Robb,” she said. “You have no idea what we go through!”

“Oh, like she didn’t ask me to come here just so I can drag him home?” Robb bit his tongue and refocused his attention back on the screen. “And you don’t see me listening to her.”

Sansa and Arya both rolled their eyes at him.

Arya took a long pull from her drink. “Now, I know why Bran left,” she said. “Shireen, are we playing?”

“You have to apologize first!” Sansa insisted.

Gendry ignored them. “Shireen, we can play after, but first I need to show Robb that _dads_ aren’t allowed to win at Mario Kart.”

Robb dropped his jaw. “Fuck you, man!” he said. “I’ll beat your ass.”

“Not on Rainbow Road,” Gendry said.

Arya grinned. “Me, next!”

Shireen stared at Robb. He looked remarkably like Rickon, but he had the obviously tells of fatherhood about him. Somehow, Shireen couldn’t imagine Rickon growing up to look anything like his brother. She had a sinking suspicion that these were Rickon’s siblings, despite not being introduced to them. Shireen wondered what they had to apologize for. More importantly, she wanted to know where he was. “Is your whole family here?”

Sansa pouted from the couch. “Bran didn’t want to come.”

“And we got a first-floor apartment just for him!” Arya added. “We’ll show him.”

Robb clicked out a disapproving sound. “We just live close,” he said. “Bran had plans with his friends. You’ll see him next week. Rickon will be bummed.”

Shireen opened her mouth to ask a question, but Arya cut her off.

“Little brother,” she explained, “and a grade-A pain in my ass. Don’t ask.”

Just then, Myrcella slipped into the room. She smiled up at Shireen. “Hey, do you want to meet someone?”

Shireen could smell the alcohol on her breath. “Tell you what,” she said. “You stay and play video games, and I’ll go meet someone.”

Myrcella seemed satisfied with that. She settled down to play games, and Shireen went back into the other room, but she couldn’t spot Rickon anywhere. She had lots of confusing information about him from his family, but she wasn’t interested in any of that. She knew what family was like. They were rarely accurate. When she got back to the front room, Rickon was arguing with someone at the door.

“Come on,” the other boy said. “Let me at least call you a car.”

“I’m good, man,” Rickon insisted. “I can walk.”

The other boy gave Rickon a long look. “You got your phone?”

“And fifty percent battery,” Rickon said. “I’m good.” He disappeared out the front door in the falling snow without another glance back.

It was dangerous out there. Snow was common here. It had been off and on for a few weeks. Shireen couldn’t imagine being drunk out in the snow, though. She hesitated in the warmth of the party.

“You lost again?” Tommen appeared at her side.

“Yeah.” Shireen pushed her drink toward Tommen. “I think I’m going to go.”

His eyes widened. “Are you sure? I can drive you.”

“No, I want to walk,” Shireen said. “I’ll call a cab if I need to.”

Tommen nodded. “Sure. Just text me when you get home.”

“Of course.” Shireen hugged Tommen goodbye and slipped out into the freezing air outside.

For a second, she regretted the impulse. What could she possibly do outside? Why would she want to follow Rickon out into the snow? What could that possibly accomplish?

Still, she didn’t want to go back to the party. Shireen left the complex of apartments and looked around. A short distance down the street, she saw a figure kicking a brick wall. Shireen started toward it, bracing herself for anyone. When she was a few feet away, he screamed. It was a loud sound filled with rage. Shireen knew that it should have scared her. It didn’t, though. Shireen knew that sound. She felt it herself sometimes. Shireen waited until he started walking again. Then, she followed him.

He went straight down the street for two blocks until he turned a corner. Hurrying forward, Shireen went after him. When she turned the corner, she nearly fell forward. Rickon stood a foot away just staring at her. After a moment, his eyes softened. Still, he turned away from her. “Get away while you can. I’m nothing but trouble.”

Shireen hummed and kept up a step behind him. “That sounds like common drunk talk.”

“I’m not slurring.”

“You’re a very capable drunk,” Shireen observed. “Doesn’t change the facts.”

Rickon huffed. A cloud of white air surrounded him. “How can you tell?”

“I can smell it on you.” She watched him carefully for a reaction. After a minute, he still hadn’t responded. “What happened?”

“Family ruins everything,” Rickon said. “My day started out just fine. Woke up too early, but I had a good morning.”

Shireen took a few quick steps to catch a glimpse of his face. He was smiling. Shireen fell a step behind again. “What happened this morning?”

Rickon chuckled. “Finished a good book,” he said. “You were right, by the way. Not really about video games.”

“I’m glad you liked it.” She smiled to herself and felt the warmth rising in her. Her suspicions were right. He _had_ been reading the same books as her. She was tempted to ask him about them and see which ones he liked the best. However, she knew he wasn’t doing well. No one left a party in a rush because they were having a good time. She didn’t want to pry, though.

Rickon stopped to stare at his phone. His eyes narrowed. He slid the phone back into his pocket. “Sometimes, I feel like I really don’t matter,” he said, “but never more than when I’m with my family. Everyone else is allowed to fuck up and do whatever. Only I have to deal with everyone hounding on me all the time. I just don’t want to be here anymore.”

“So where are you going?”

\--

Rickon ended up at her apartment. Shireen couldn’t remember how. Looking back, she thought that he’d just been heading that way anyway, so he might have followed her home. But that wasn’t true. She remembered him offering to take a cab anywhere else so he wouldn’t bother her. She wasn’t going to let that happen. As far as she knew, this boy read books for her, and she wasn’t going to let him go that easily.

She invited him in and now he was here. It was as simple as that. The only problem was that Shireen didn’t know what to do now. Her only responsibility was a text to Tommen letting her know she was safe at home, but that was done now.

Rickon stood at the sink and chugged down several glasses of water. Shireen watched him go through the water quickly. She perched on the edge of her kitchen table and just stared at him. After a while, he stared back at her.

“What am I doing here?”

Shireen shrugged. “You said you weren’t going back to your dorm, that you couldn’t stay with Arya, and that you would rather sleep in the snow than let your siblings take you home. This seemed like an alternative you wouldn’t hate.”

Rickon nodded and slumped onto the counter.

For a few minutes, they just stood there. Shireen knew it was late, that he was still plenty drunk, and that he had nowhere to go tonight. After a while, she got up and went down the hall. She pulled out a towel and placed it in her small bathroom. Then, she returned to the kitchen where Rickon was still staring at the counter.

“Do you want to shower?” she offered.

“I probably need it,” Rickon huffed out. He stood up and looked at her with glassy eyes. Despite the ease of his voice, Shireen could see just how guarded and volatile he was underneath. “I can leave.”

Shireen smiled at him. She wasn’t going to let him go for several reasons. She picked one randomly. “The alcohol will be hitting you soon,” she said. “You can spend the night here.”

Rickon’s brow furrowed. “That’s… Are you sure?” he asked. He held his hands out weakly. “I can’t do anything for you in return.”

Shireen gave him a long look. He looked like he’d gone through so much more than just his classes, finals, and a Christmas party. She remembered her first years at school when everything was overwhelming and difficult. She wanted her sympathy to be only for that, but it wasn’t. She knew that a part of her was simply attracted to him. Something could kill that quickly, though. She sighed and closed her eyes. It was better to get it out of the way. “Just answer one question.”

“Sure.”

“Why did you read those books?”

To her surprise, a smile grew on Rickon’s face. He nodded to himself. “It was for my English class,” he told her. “Some outside reading assignment, but I’m lousy at finding good things to read. I wanted recommendations. I was going to use any books that I caught other people reading. Turns out, that first day of classes, you were literally the only person I saw reading.”

Shireen felt a lump rising in her throat. She wanted that to be it, but she desperately wanted the other questions answered: Did he actually read them? Did he enjoy them? Which were his favorites? Shireen swallowed and stopped herself for asking him about books. He had other concerns at the moment, and she would hold to her word. Only one question. For now.

Rickon gave her a long look. He shook his head and stood up to his full height. He swayed slightly to the side and braced himself on the counter. “I went back to check, but every day that I saw you, you were reading.” He rubbed a hand through his hair. “I’m sure I didn’t keep up with you. I only caught some of the titles. A few books, I looked up from the cover. They were all great books, by the way. I tried to get as many of them as I could. Granted, sometimes I forgot to look at the books.”

Shireen’s breath hitched. She gestured down the hall. “Um, feel free to shower.”

“That’s it?” he asked.

“I did say one question.”


	6. Chapter 6

Shireen waited in her kitchen while she thought through her choices for the night. She didn’t have a living room. Her apartment was tiny. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t host any parties here. Shireen had one place to offer Rickon for the night, and she somehow wasn’t even nervous about it. Maybe she should have been. He was as good as a stranger to her.

But he read the books.

Her heart still sped up at the thought.

Rickon emerged from the shower in a shirt and his loose jeans. Shireen stared at the curve of his shoulders and the long length of his limbs. He rubbed the towel over his hair. Then, he smiled at her. “Thanks. I needed that.”

Shireen smiled back. “Anytime.”

Rickon leaned against the wall and bowed his head into it. His eyes drooped closed. “I don’t suppose you were serious about spending the night here?” He yawned loudly. “I can get a cab back to my dorm.”

“No, you’re welcome here.” She certainly was not going to let him leave until she got to interrogate him about books. Shireen walked past him. She thought she imagined the feel of his fingers tracing lines down her arm. She ignored the heat rising in her face, but she ignored it and went to her bedroom. “Um, I only have one bed, though.”

Rickon leaned in the doorway behind her. “I can sleep on the floor.”

Shireen felt him moving behind her. She glanced back and saw him grabbing onto the top of her doorframe. Her heart jumped into her throat. Shireen glanced down at met his eyes, no longer staring intently or hazed from the drinks. He just looked sleepy. “Get in the bed, Rickon.”

Somehow, he managed to give her a cheeky smile. “As you wish.”

Shireen turned sharply to him. “You didn’t read that one.”

Rickon’s smile grew wider. “I saw the movie.”

Shaking her head to herself, Shireen pulled down her blankets. She gave Rickon a long look. She didn’t want to have to lay out clear rules, but she didn’t think she needed to. A small part of her fantasized about what might happen without any clear rules in place.

Rickon sat tentatively on the edge of her bed. He sunk his head into a hand. “I don’t suppose you have any aspirin?”

Shireen left the room to fetch the pills and another glass of water. She spent plenty of time with drunk people. Rickon was coherent, but he’d still have all the same responses. Including the exhaustion. When she got back to her room, Rickon was passed out on a small sliver of her bed. Shireen went to his side and nudged him awake. 

“Hey.” She gently coaxed him awake.

Rickon smiled at her lazily. “Hi.”

Shireen felt her face burning. “Sit up.”

Rickon groaned and grumbled until he pushed himself onto his elbows. Then, he took the pills and swallowed them down. He finished the entire glass of water and flopped backwards on the bed. “What are the odds that I’ll have a hangover tomorrow?”

“How much did you drink?”

Rickon groaned and put his forearm over his eyes. “I would like to preemptively apologize for how irritable and annoying I will be in the morning,” he said. “I promise that I’m usually much better in the morning when I’m not hungover.”

Shireen smiled at him. “I won’t hold it against you.”

Moments later, Rickon’s breaths evened out. Shireen watched the steady rise and fall of his chest. Then, she reached out and pulled the blankets over him. Shireen went to refill the glass with water and placed it on the table beside him. Shireen went back to the kitchen and stared blankly at the sink for a few minutes.

She didn’t know what she was doing. For the first time in her life, there was a boy in her bed. Now that she hadn’t had boyfriends before, but Shireen had never had to think about the possibilities of having someone else in her bed. Her brain did it anyway, overthinking the situation. But in the moment, things tended to happen too fast for her to influence anything. Currently, she could influence everything about the situation. For the first time ever, she didn’t want to. She just wanted to see what would happen.

Shireen tidied up everything in her apartment. There wasn’t anything much to do, but she felt the need to busy herself. Eventually, she decided to take a shower. Rickon’s sweater was neatly folded and placed over her hamper. Beside it, his shoes were placed against the wall. Shireen smiled down at it. Then, she fetched her pajamas and started her shower. She spent a long time just letting the hot water beat against her. Her mind wandered erratically.

Usually, she felt the pressure of her work or school. This was her time to relax and reorganize her thoughts about what she needed to do. Right now, that was the farthest thig from her mind. Shireen had one pressing thought, and it just happened to be the person who was currently asleep in her bedroom.

Her heart thumped loudly in her chest. She could put it off as long as she wanted, but it was the only place she had to sleep. The thought didn’t bother her, but she couldn’t get her heart to calm down. Shireen put on her pajamas and blow dried her hair to tame it as much as possible. She braided it back and slowly inched into her room.

Rickon slept soundly on the far edge of her bed. Even completely unconscious, he seemed to be aware that he shouldn’t be taking up much space. It was a ridiculous notion since her bed was big enough to hold the two of them. Rickon was sprawled out on his back, one arm across his stomach, the other dangling off the edge of the bed.

Shireen turned off the lights and slipped into the other side of the bed. She laid down completely and closed her eyes.

Sleep didn’t come.

Her mind was much too active for sleep, regardless of how late it was. A small part of her recognized that she was tired and needed sleep. The other, much larger, part of her brain was positively buzzing with activity. Some of it was the usual gibberish that clogged down her brain every day: a to-do list of things for tomorrow, for break, for school, for work, for life after graduation. The other part of her brain, which usually thought about everything she did in her leisure had gone to one fixation: Rickon.

Even now, there interactions were few. Shireen could count them on one hand. Granted, their last encounter was rather lengthy. She knew that many people dated or hooked up on less than this. It didn’t bother her. She was happy having Rickon close by. _That’s_ what bothered her so much. In literally every other case of having someone so close to her, Shireen constantly worried that something was wrong. This didn’t feel anything like that.

Shireen sat up and turned on her bedside lamp. She curled her knees up to her chest. For a minute, Shireen breathed deeply. She didn’t have to convince herself that this was fine. She knew there wasn’t a problem with it. Instead, she tried to reckon with the absolute fear that accompanied a complete unknown future. 

For so long, Shireen planned for everything she could. She knew her classes, homework, workload, meals, calls, appointments, and anything else that might happen in her life. Sure, she moved things around, but she’d never been reliant on another person for anything. More importantly, she never had to plan for anyone else in her life. Her plans shifted whenever her dad or Myrcella abruptly made plans or asked something of her. If she dated Rickon, that would be the case more and more often.

Wouldn’t it?

Shireen didn’t know how to deal with that. She never had to before. So many past boyfriends broken up with her because she was too “high maintenance” solely because she wanted to know their schedules so she could plan for it. Could she stop that? Would Rickon mind? Would he even want to date her?

Shireen stifled a groan. Her brain jumped much too far without permission. Regardless of her feelings, this needed to be discussed with Rickon if she actually wanted a future that included him.

Leaning her head on her knees, Shireen gazed over at Rickon. She watched him sleep quietly in her bed. Shireen had no idea what was going on his head. She had no idea what he thought of her. All of the assumptions were only that and nothing more. If she wanted him to know anything that was going on in her head, she needed to tell him. 

She wanted all of it. She wanted to see what a future with him would be like. She couldn’t bear going on any longer without telling him. Her thoughts echoed around in her head until it was all she could hear. He didn’t know any of this about her, but he would. Shireen hoped he would listen.


	7. Chapter 7

Rickon slowly came to with a warm weight in front of him. For a while, he suspected that it was his dog, but he wasn’t back home. That couldn’t be it. Rickon dug his head further into the pillow and breathed in a sweet scent of strawberries. He smiled through his drowsiness. Rickon pressed further into the warmth and pushed his arm forward. His hand landed on a smooth length of flesh.

His eyes shot open. A large expanse of black was in front of him. That didn’t help clear things up. Rickon’s eyes moved down and he saw the smooth, pale curve of a neck, a think black braid, and a faded black shirt. His head pounded, but Rickon fought through it until his memory returned.

He was at Shireen’s. He was in her bed. She was in his arms.

That made sense. Rickon smiled and sunk back down into the bed. He didn’t know how long this would last. He didn’t feel like he had a hangover, but it might still hit him. Shireen might kick him out. Any number of things could go wrong. While it lasted, he would enjoy this.

It took a conscious effort for him to relax. He didn’t want to let his hands wander. Well, he did. But he recognized that that would be a bad idea, so he stopped himself. Rickon tried to memorize the feel of her and the comfort of this moment. He rarely got to feel calm, and he wanted to expel every other thought in his head. It took more effort than he’d like.

Like everyone in his family always insisted on pointing out, he was a train wreck. He didn’t mind what that meant for himself, but he couldn’t take Shireen that way, too. So far, all of his problems were solely his. What if he fell and hurt himself? What if he went and got lost? What if he forgot who he was? What if he never knew? Would she fix him? Would she remind him? Find him? Would she care?

Rickon hugged her tighter. It was too much to think through. Rickon didn’t want to start down that path. He brought himself back to this moment and took slow breaths. Then, he committed himself to refocusing on the tangible. He followed the pattern of the braid until it disappeared between them. Then, he traced the collar of the faded t-shirt with his eyes. Everything else he could see, he stored deep in his mind.

Eventually, his body insisted on reminding him that he was human. His jeans were twisted awkwardly around his hips. His shirt was in a clump under his ribs. His left arm was going numb. And he really needed to pee.

Rickon didn’t want to leave. He didn’t want to leave this moment and risk waking Shireen. He wasn’t prepared for what came after this. When it all threatened to take over his brain again, Rickon slid out of the blankets. He kept his eyes down and went to the bathroom. For a brief second, he considered leaving. Immediately, several voices in his head screamed at him to stay. If he left, the possibility of the future left, too. He might risk rejection if he stayed, but there was a small chance of acceptance. Much as Rickon didn’t want to admit it, he needed that right now.

He returned to the bedroom and saw Shireen curled up in a small ball on her side. Rickon wanted to fit himself to her, pull her against his chest, and breathe in her sweet scent. It seemed dishonest now, somehow. He’d already been in bed with her, surely, he hadn’t done that without her permission. 

Steeling himself, Rickon walked around the bed and slowly sat down. A large glass of water caught his eye. Rickon slowly sipped at it. He had a slight headache, but the pressure of a hangover wasn’t looming on the horizon. He must have eaten enough food and drank enough water to stave off the worst of it. Rickon placed the empty water back on the table and slid his legs under the blankets.

He pulled the blanket up, and Shireen stirred at his side. He froze. Shireen twisted in her space. She pushed her hands down, taking the blankets with her. Rickon smiled at the way her hands curled in the blanket. His eyes shot up to her face and he was pleasantly surprised to see her still asleep. Her features all looked softer with her hair pulled back. Even the scars on her left cheek. Rickon’s eyes lingered on them until he followed the rough texture down. It went down her neck until it faded into her collarbone.

The collar of her shirt was stretched so much, it almost went over her shoulder. Rickon swallowed. Every time he’d ever seen her, she was covered up in long sleeves and turtlenecks. He’d never seen so much of her skin before. Rickon tried to memorize the pattern of her scars, but his eyes kept jumping to the smooth expanse of her neck and her arms. Though she was certainly pale, Rickon saw the gentle flush of her skin and rosy color on her. She looked so wonderfully alive.

Despite the water he just drank, Rickon felt his mouth go dry. He wanted to wake up to this every single day. For a while, Rickon just watched her sleeping quietly. With every breath she took, he felt another of his worries slipping away. He had to deal with them eventually, he knew. But he didn’t have to do it now. Those thoughts had a time to be said, but it wasn’t now. Right now, he let his thoughts fixate on Shireen.

He understood that he didn’t know her very well, but he wanted to figure her out. He wanted to read books with her and talk about absolutely useless things. He wanted to learn her birthday and her favorite color and what foods she liked. He wanted to travel with her and find out what he enjoyed. He’d never felt this longing for something so much in his life. It worried him, but he also found it comforting.

Eventually, Rickon slid back down to the pillows and turned toward her. He watched her profile until his eyes drifted closed and he fell back asleep.

\--

When he next woke, Rickon found a pair of bright blue eyes staring at him. His mouth lifted into a smile. Shireen ducked into the blanket that was pulled up to her nose. Rickon’s smile widened. He yawned and he felt his arm drag up Shireen’s side. He resolutely kept it there and gently rubbed her side.

“Good morning,” he mumbled.

Shireen looked back up at him. She tucked the blanket under her chin. She smiled up at him. “Good morning.”

Rickon’s smile felt like a permanent fixture on his face. “I don’t suppose you want me to leave, do you?”

Shireen shook her head. “No.”

“Okay.”

They stayed in Shireen’s bed for a long time, just looking at each other. After a while, Rickon let his hand slip up to her arm. Shireen stilled under his touch for a second before she relaxed. Then, Rickon felt the tentative touch of her fingers against his chest. Her eyes were downcast, splaying her dark eyelashes over the soft rosy flush of her face.

“So this might be obvious,” she started slowly, “but I kind of like you.”

Rickon chuckled. “Kind of?”

Shireen met his eyes with a sharp look. “I’m reserving judgement until we discuss those books you read.”

“That’s fair.”

Shireen’s eyebrows shot up.

Rickon shrugged. “I want to hear your opinions, too,” he said. “Though, I don’t think that’ll change the fact that I kind of like you, too.”

Shireen smiled and scooted closer to him. Her legs pressed against his and she frowned. “Are you still wearing jeans?”

“Uh, yeah?” Rickon looked down. “I didn’t exactly bring pajamas.”

Shireen shook her head, but she giggled. “That’s ridiculous.”

Rickon narrowed a look at her. “Well, taking my pants off in bed felt like a bad idea.”

Shireen’s face went scarlet. She stammered out something about needing to get up and followed through on it.

With a smile, Rickon followed her out of bed and helped her straighten the sheets and blankets on her bed. He followed Shireen back out to her kitchen and watched her flutter about. She hadn’t put anything else on, so he could see the full length of her legs under her pajama shorts. It was a view he could get used to.

“Are you nervous?” he asked.

“What?” Shireen glanced at him before going to rummage through her cabinets. “No, I’m not nervous. Why would I be nervous?”

Rickon walked into the kitchen and closed the cabinet she was looking into. Shireen whirled around and ended up chest to chest with him. Rickon leaned his forehead against hers. “You don’t need to be nervous,” he said. “I really liked those books.”

“Did you?” Shireen squeaked.

“Yeah,” Rickon inched closer to her. “I think I might like something else more, though.”

Shireen stared up at him. “What?”

“You.”

Shireen’s eyes narrowed in a challenge. “Why?”

Rickon stepped away and leaned onto the far counter. “My siblings would say that I had too much energy,” he said. “They thought I was always off running around and playing games. I did that some, but I never felt like slowing down. This, though—being around you—I feel comfortable.”

Her eyes widened slightly in shock. She brushed a thin strand of hair behind her ear and stared down at the floor. “Is that normal for you?”

“Not really.”

\--

Rickon stayed in her apartment into the evening. They discussed the books in full, going through characters, plot, themes, and settings with more detail than Rickon ever had for class. Shireen had lots of ideas for possibilities within the books. She laughed every time Rickon insisted on taking details at face value. They ordered food and ate sitting on the counters in Shireen’s kitchen. Late in the afternoon, Rickon realized he hadn’t seen his phone all morning. He found it under the blankets in Shireen’s bed, and she plugged it in to charge.

“What kind of person doesn’t realize their phone is missing?” Shireen asked.

“The kind of person who has better things to think about.” Rickon gently kicked his feet. He was wearing a pair of fuzzy socks that Shireen left him. “Besides, I was thinking about other things.”

Shireen smiled and leaned up against his arm. “Why’d you want your phone anyway?”

Rickon grinned. “I needed a means of getting your number somehow.”

Her face flushed a pretty shade of pink. She muttered out, “I could have written it down…”

Behind her, his phone started vibrating on the counter. Shireen gave him a long look. Rickon sighed loudly and crossed the kitchen. He saw a ton of notifications across the top of his phone and scowled down at the caller ID.

“Someone wants your attention.”

Rickon frowned. “The last thing my mom wants is my attention.”

“You have your mom in your phone by name?” she questioned.

“If I lose my phone, I don’t want anyone telling her about it,” he insisted. “I’ll wait for Bran to call.”

Shireen raised her eyebrows at him, but Rickon just waited. He’d done this a lot. He knew how it went: he did something to annoy his mom, and all his siblings took turns calling him until they managed to drag him back home. He announced which of his siblings would be calling next, surprising Shireen each time.

“They’re very predictable.” Rickon picked up his phone and Bran’s name appeared on it. He nodded at Shireen and answered his phone. “Like clockwork.”

“I told them to let me call you,” Bran said in return. “Where’d you go?”

Rickon shrugged. “My phone died,” he said. “I didn’t get the chance to charge it until now.”

“Mom’s freaking out,” Bran said. “You’re lucky I’m not home, or she’d have taken my phone already.”

“Why do you think I only answered you?”

Bran sighed loudly. “Reasonable,” he said. “Arya told me to pass along her apologies. Well, Sansa told me to pass along Arya’s apologies. Mom thinks you’re failing out of school and asked me to tell you to go home to figure it out.”

Rickon shook his head. “Arya, I get. Mom, though? Ridiculous.”

Bran laughed. “Can’t be helped, right?”

“I see why you left.”

“One day, you guys will learn to take my advice,” Bran said. “Are you going to hide for the holidays?”

Rickon glanced over to Shireen. “I haven’t decided yet.”

Bran hummed. “Well, I’ll get Arya to stop staking out your dorm if you want to sneak back in,” he said, “and I’ll visit later with Jojen.”

“Thanks, bro.”

“Anytime.”

Rickon hung up the call.

Shireen smiled at him. “I take it that’s your nice brother?”

“Five kids, and only one who isn’t a complete fuck-up.” Rickon sighed. He cleared all his notifications and put his phone on silent.

“A shame,” Shireen said. “Fuck-ups make more interesting people.”

Rickon laughed. Shireen had been surprising him all day. He tried to shoot his own retorts back at her, but she was much quicker on the uptake. They’d been talking and just hanging out in her apartment, but Rickon thoroughly enjoyed it. He thought she’d have asked him to leave by now. He wanted to bring it up himself, but Shireen had steered that conversation away. He’d even convinced her not to put on a turtleneck because he was the only person there.

While talking about books and everything else, she didn’t seem bothered at all by her appearance. Rickon only saw her draw away whenever his eyes dropped from her face, which was becoming a problem. The rest of her was equally distracting. He’d told her as much, making her hide under a blanket for thirty minutes while he read her random passages from a book in her room. Part of him never wanted to leave, but he knew that he was overstaying his welcome. 

“You can stay,” Shireen offered when he brought it up.

Rickon shook his head slowly. “Much as I’d love to be in your bed again, I should really get some fresh clothes,” he said. “So I’ll leave you with my number and hopes that you’ll call me soon.”

“Can I walk you back?” she offered.

“Think I don’t know the way? I can figure it out.”

Shireen smacked his arm. “Not that,” she said. “I just wanted to do something for you, too.”

“You have, Shireen. More than you know.”

“I think I know,” Shireen said. “I’d still like to give you something.”

Rickon moved closer to her. “Like what?”

Shireen pressed a hand over his shoulder and stretched up on her toes. She pecked a short kiss to his cheek. When she drew away, her face was flushed. She ducked her head, staring up at him.

Rickon leaned into her. He dipped his head down until their foreheads were pressed together. He whispered, “I’ve decided that waiting is a bad idea.”

“Oh?”

“Let me take you on a date.” Rickon inclined his head further, making the tips of their noses brush together. “Anywhere you want.”

“Right now?” asked Shireen.

Rickon’s eyes searched her face, hungry for any sign that she was uncomfortable. He brought up a hand to her shoulder and let it slide down her arm. Shireen pressed her hands against his stomach and circled them around his waist. Rickon gently nudged her nose. “I’ll come pick you up after I change.”

Shireen smiled. “Okay.”

Rickon felt his mind buzzing with the thought of coming back, of taking her anywhere she wanted to go. He quickly pressed a kiss to her cheek and headed to the door. Shireen followed after him. When he turned to close the door, she was gaping at him.

“What did I do?” he asked.

“You kissed me.”

“Seemed fair,” he said. “You kissed me first.”

Shireen twisted her fingers together. “But you kissed…” She gestured weakly to her scarred cheek. “You know.”

Rickon smiled. “Well, I haven’t brushed my teeth today, so I figured I should hold off on kissing you proper.” He winked at her. “I’ll be back in an hour.”

He left Shireen with a delightful blush on her face, standing in her doorway and watching him go. He raced back to his dorm. Quickly, he stripped and showered, putting on fresh clothes. While he brushed his teeth, he searched for anything he might need to take to Shireen’s. He was packing up his computer when his phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number.

_You should bring extra clothes._

Rickon grinned down at his phone. He grabbed a bag, packed away an extra set of clothes and his pajamas and toothbrush. For some reason, he felt like he was preparing for a slumber party. It was absurd. He was in college. College students didn’t have slumber parties with one person that they had a crush on. With everything he’d ever heard, he was sure that this wasn’t how people dated. He didn’t mind. Shireen heard him and gave him a safe place to rest. He needed that comfort.

As promised, an hour later, he returned to her apartment. Shireen was dressed in a white turtleneck and well-fitted jeans. Her hair flowed over her shoulders in gentle waves. She smiled up at him. Rickon put his hands on her waist and pulled her into a hug. Her head fell on his chest and she squeezed him back. Rickon looked down. Her entire face was obscured by her hair. He combed it back until he found the piercing blue of her eyes.

“Where do you want to go?” he asked.

Shireen stretched up and kissed his jaw. “Inside.”

“Lots of places are inside,” he said, but he shifted them back inside her apartment.

Shireen stayed still against him for a while. She pulled away slightly. “Were you serious?”

Rickon slid his hands under her jaw and brushed her cheeks with his thumbs. Shireen’s eyes went wide. He pressed his forehead to hers. “I was.”

Her lips parted, and Rickon closed the distance to kiss her. Shireen gasped softly against his lips. Her hands slid up his chest and hooked behind his neck. And he kissed her. His problems could be addressed later. He could deal with anything anyone threw at him. In this moment, all he had to worry about was Shireen, and she wasn’t a worry at all. She reiterated everything he said so matter-of-factly, and she listened to him like no one else ever had. If he could have her, he thought he’d do more than just survive. He felt peace settle into his chest like it never had before.

They didn’t leave her apartment.


End file.
